Stobart Ford's
Gigi Galli battled his way back up to eighth on the inaugural Jordan Rally on Sunday to claim the final drivers' point.
Galli had been running in sixth when he slid backwards into a stone wall on Friday and caused too much damage to the rear differential cooler and exhaust for him to continue.
Re-starting under the SupeRally on day two, the Italian put in a charge and hauled himself up from 18th to tenth by the end of Saturday's action, setting three fastest stage times in the process.
On the final day he continued to push and with
Urmo Aava retiring and Khalid Al-Qassimi picking up two punctures in the final stage, he broke back into the points and in the end finished just 8.8 seconds off
Jari-Matti Latvala in seventh.
"We are definitely pleased with this result but we were disappointed with the problem on Friday," Gigi reflected.
"On Saturday I really had to concentrate again and we found a good feeling and a good rhythm with the car and managed to set three fastest times so for sure I must be happy with this progress.
"Today was quite tough and the long stage made it a difficult way to finish the rally but now I have much more confidence going into my home rally in Sardinia next month."
M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson meanwhile hailed the performance of the whole Stobart squad, which also took fourth and fifth place finishes, thanks to
Henning Solberg and
Matthew Wilson in the #8 and #16 cars respectively.
"We've seen another fantastic performance from the entire Stobart team on what was a tough, demanding and tricky Jordan Rally. Gigi proved again that he has the speed as he set three fastest times during the rally, while Matthew and Henning both put in faultless drives.
"Three Stobart cars in the top-eight is ample proof of how they all drove with their heads and in a very sensible manner especially with the next rally so close," he summed-up.
